Each member of the TKHS Teens Against Tobacco Use shared their own reasons why they choose to avoid smoking or vaping. It’s an important message they hope Page fourth graders will heed.
TATU is a tobacco education program designed to help teens develop strong leadership skills while also influencing younger children to live tobacco-free lives. With guidance from the Barry County Substance Abuse Prevention Services, the TKHS TATU group each year delivers the powerful message they hope resonates with younger students.
Armed with a variety of activities, high school students demonstrated the effects of smoking or vaping on the lungs. Using straws of different sizes, students raced to drink up a glass of water - realizing it’s much harder to drink fast through the tiny straw opening. It’s a demonstration of the diminished capacity of the lungs after use of tobacco products over time.
Another demonstration used a balloon and an air pump. The balloon represents the lungs and the air pump, the heart. Pumping up the balloon unobstructed from the pump was easy. But once clamps were placed to restrict the opening of the balloon, it became much harder to force the air into the balloon.
TATU students gave one more visual representation. One student donned a pink t-shirt with healthy pink lungs, a pink hat representing a healthy brain, glasses with pipe cleaners representing nose hairs. But a transformation took place once the person started using tobacco products. The pink lungs turned grayish black. The tiny air sacs within the lungs turned black and even the nose hairs shriveled from the effects of tobacco.
The damage, students said, can be reversed once a person stops using tobacco products. Lungs can return to a healthier color and nose hairs start to straighten out again. But some of the damage, they said, cannot be completely reversed, leaving areas of damage to the lungs.
The lessons included a closer look at what kinds of dangerous chemicals are found in cigarettes and vaping. And there was even a math lesson to show students just how much it costs monetarily to have a smoking habit. With a pack of cigarettes at $8 per pack and a person who smokes a pack a day, the yearly cost is a startling $2,920. “I could buy a dirt bike with that,” said one student.
The most dramatic demonstration was a pig lung used to illustrate the damage to lungs from smoking or vaping. Using one gloved hand, students were able to feel the lung and see how the diseased lung didn’t inflate properly.
High school students said they hope their connection with younger students is enough to help get the message across about the dangers of using tobacco products and the damage they can cause and to encourage students never to try smoking or vaping.
High School students involved in the TATU presentations at Page were Brooklyn Harmon, McKenna Hoebeke, Kylee Hoebeke, Aidan Dudik, Devon Barnhill, Elise DeBoer, Jacob Draaisma, Jenna Robinett, Lilly McKeown, Noah Donker, Petyon Hardy, Austin Hansford, Alaina McCrumb, Alexis Watson, Alyvia Zolinski, Mark Cuison, Milo McCormick, Parker Dahley, Raegen Chapman.